News International (NI), the owner of The Times and Sunday Times newspapers, has announced plans to charge users for access to their websites from June.
Users who wish to access online content from The Times and Sunday Times will be charged £1 per day or £2 for a weeks access. According to the BBC News, NI chief executive Rebekah Brooks said it was "a crucial step towards making the business of news an economically exciting proposition".
The move comes nearly eight months after News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch, who owns subsidary News International, announced plans to charge users for online news content. News Corp is the world's second-largest media conglomerate after Walt Disney and controls a vast network of news sites including The Sun, The Times and the Wall Street Journal. News Corp is looking for new ways to bring in the cash, having taken large losses last year, and charging for their online news websites is one of them.
In late 2009, Murdoch began a war of words with Google, accusing the search giant of "kleptomania" and being a "parasite" for including bits of articles from Murdoch's news websites in its free Google News service. According to the Guardian, when Murdoch was questioned why they hadn't simply opted to remove their websites from Google's search indexes, he said it was on the cards.
With today's announcements it remains to be seen exactly how many will pay for access to The Times, which is clearly a trial run before we see other News Corp entities moving to subscription models. The question is, will you pay? Vote in our poll on the right or leave a comment below.
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